From the Interwebs: Dine & Dash, Grammar, and Privacy

Here are a few pieces from the Interwebs I found interesting. Maybe you will also….

Dine and Dash 101. There are two kinds of truffles. My favorite is made of chocolate and is a reasonably priced treat. The other is for those with a more talented palate and deeper pockets that I have. Truffle hunting is tedious business and truffles are extraordinarily expensive, as a diner at a Manhattan restaurant discovered when he ordered the pasta lunch special without inquiring about the price, which turned out to be $275. His story made the New York Times last month, and the ContractsProf Blog posted a quick lesson on the application of Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code to the situation.

Grammar Tips in 10 Minutes. Writer and editor John Gingerich described mistakes he sees frequently and explained the correct usage in 20 Common Grammar Mistakes That (Almost) Everyone Makes. If you want to know whether to use “different than” or “different from,” then this post is worth a read. (Hat tip to @lawyerist.)

A (Strong) Word About Privacy. Although I’m more of a fly-under-the-radar type, I usually don’t get too concerned about collection and aggregation of my Internet usage data. If you throw my uninteresting data into the anonymous pool and serve up ads that are more useful to me as a result, I’m just fine with that. Still, some Internet companies take it too far (Facebook. Spotify.) Ryan Singel addresses the issue in Founders and Funders: Stop Screwing Users on Privacy. Perhaps part of the solution to over-reaching privacy practices lies in tools such as this one, which allows users to rank websites on their privacy policies. (Hat tip to @Common_Terms.)

Will You Be My Valentine? Valentine’s Day was last week and docracy.com put together a clever product to promote its on-line contracting service — a binding Valentine contract. Ah, contracts can be such fun!

Where You Should Have Gone to High School. Every city has its idiosyncrasies. In St. Louis, where I live, people are known for inquiring at cocktail parties about where you went to high school. As a non-native, I made up a high school story when I was a summer associate to have fun with the natives. I had the help of a to-the-core St. Louis partner and associate at the law firm where I was working, but the Riverfront Times has published a self-help guide to making up your high school that appeals to my DIY nature. This would have come in handy. (Hat tip to @JohnScottCPA.)